The mystery of student motivation has had parents, teachers, and students scratching their heads for centuries. Why is one student driven to practice, perform, and perfect playing an instrument while another student in the same situation loses interest?
When I started guitar lessons at 12-years-old, I was probably one of the most motivated kids my teacher had ever seen! I practiced for hours, and once my mom actually took my guitar away for a week as a punishment. What was the secret behind my drive to keep learning guitar?
I had great music role models! I covered my bedroom with pictures of the Beatles, and my dad, a musician himself, frequently invited people over to the house to jam. I had no shortage of musicians to inspire me. My desire to emulate my musical heroes helped me to persevere through tough passages and climb sharp learning curves. What can you do to pinpoint musical role models for yourself or your child? Here are a few places to look to get started:
What’s On Your iPod?
Start your search for inspiration with your most played tracks. If you’ve never taken the time to learn more about the people behind the music, try looking up your favorite artist or composer online. You’ll quickly find biographies, reviews, interviews, and more. Geek out and learn as much as you can about the singer or the song that you can’t get out of your head. As you learn more about the human side of your favorite artist, you may start to see that you have more in common with them than you thought. Identifying more with great musicians will help you believe you can be great too!
Check Out Your Community
Is there somebody in your community who plays music? It can be a friend, a parent, a neighbor, or local musician. Ask them how they got started playing music, and find out what inspires them. Make a point of befriending musicians and other music students. Being around other people who care about music will help you feel connected to what inspires you, plus these people can push you to keep going even when you feel like giving up.
Turn to Your Teacher
As you progress in your musical journey, the right teacher can be an excellent role model and a master motivator! Share your dreams with your teacher and let him or her know what inspires you. Your teacher will be there to cheer you on when you succeed and help you do better next time when you make a mistake. When you’re having trouble with something, ask your teacher about a time when they struggled and how they got over the hurdle. Beyond just teaching you notes and scales, the right teacher will also share their experience and knowledge to keep you focused on reaching your musical goals.
Our musical role models show us how to overcome our challenges and realize our full potential. We can learn how to be better musicians and human beings by learning from their stories and examples.
Who are some of your music role models? Let us know in the comments!
–Megan L. TakeLessons Staff Member and Blogger
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–Don’t Quit Now! Keep Your Kid Motivated for Music Lessons
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Photo by AVelenovsky
Megan L.